I will be totally honest with you about this (with the caveat that there are reasons other than just business). We have a lot of bicyclists that ride past our farm during the summer and I want to let them know that we have beef for sale and that we recognize them as valuable customers.
For people looking to put on some miles in either Boise or Meridian, it makes sense to ride south towards Kuna. And, if that is the decision that they have made, it is all about designing a good route. As it turns out, we happen to live on one of the best routes available.
I bicycle commuted for years (and loved it) when I had a job in town. I rode in the wind, rain, 10 degree temps and even snow at any time of day, including at 2am when I finished a swing shift in Boise. I don’t have a job to commute to any longer, but I still ride my bike into Boise and have done so with with Autumm and with Hattie. These days, with all the vehicular traffic, the key to making this a pleasurable experience is the route! How will you get to or from the city while minimizing the amount of high speed traffic passing past you?
Our farm sits right at the corner of Stewart and Deer Flat Roads. On any given evening after the commute and on the weekends this makes for a very pleasant route because it is not a main thoroughfare. Road cyclists like to ride Pleasant Valley Road south of the Boise Airport and then turn onto Ten Mile Creek Road. Ten Mile Creek eventually turns into Hubbard and crosses Cloverdale Road and leads right to our farm. So, we see a lot of nice bicycles coming past our farm on weekends during the summer, and while we are working we vicariously enjoy the fun these folks are having on their group rides.
For the not so serious cyclist who wants to travel in and out of Boise, our farm is still on the path of the best route. Coming from Kuna, every road is on a straight grid and goes for miles. This encourages higher speeds and heavier traffic flows on roads with narrow shoulders.
However, with Deer Flat terminating at Stewart, this is less true for this route. And, the wary cyclist can follow this route all the way to Columbia Road via Stewart Road which has minimal traffic between Hubbard and Columbia. A short jaunt on Columbia leads you to Valley Heights Drive, which gives you a very pleasant route almost all the way to Overland Road with slow moving traffic through residential areas. So, those hard core bicycle commuters in Kuna come past our farm as well.
All three of us like to ride bicycles. Autumm and I have a couple different loops that we will ride in the later evenings of the summer when both the heat and traffic have dissipated. However, moving from B
oise to the farm has meant less cycling for us and less interaction with fellow cyclists.
With that said, we have ridden bikes on every vacation we have ever taken. As a matter of fact, we have become pretty adept at riding bicycles around San Francisco. We even did a bicycle tour of Munich on a European Vacation in 2019.
I (Matt) have a secret passion for bicycle touring as well. So much so that I sold my hybrid and purchased a touring bicycle, added racks and bought Ortlieb Bags. I have done a few trips, all local. I’ve ridden to Celebration Park, Homedale and Parma for successful overnight trips. I also had a failed trip from Lowman back to Kuna where I was completely sidelined by a pinch flat, too little water and really hot temperatures in Garden Valley.
When it comes to bicycle touring and reading the blogs on “Crazy Guy On A Bike” I let my enthusiasm get the best of me. I definitely believe that I can live off of a bike and camp that many nights in a row. But why I thought as a farmer raising livestock and a daughter,
that I would have time for long, bicycling trips is beyond me. So, the touring idea is there but has to wait for a day when demands on my time are not so high.
I hope for the day that the people riding past our farm are our customers, and if they see us out working they will stop in from some water and friendly conversation.